Page 10 - AfrElec Week 47

AfrElec
NEWS IN BRIEF
AfrElec
POLICY
Africa urged to diversify
export markets amid U.S.-
China trade war
African countries need to diversify export markets and add value to raw materials as a trade war between the United States and China threatens to hit growth, the African Development Bank (AfDB) president said, Reuters reported.
The continent’s economy is expected to expand by 3.4% this year and 3.9% in 2020, Akinwumi Adesina said told Reuters, but there are risks from a slowing global economy.
“Tensions between United States and China in terms of trade is a problem,” he said. “Many African countries export ... raw materials to China. And so, if China’s economy weakens (then) demand for raw materials from Africa weakens.”
The United States and China, the two top economies in the world, have been embroiled in a 16-month trade war that has disrupted supply chains and been a drag for economies
worldwide.
In addition to the US-China battle, Britain’s
potential exit from the European Union is another risk for Africa, Adesina said. “Africa trades quite a lot with Europe but also with the UK,” he said.
African governments should build regional chains to add value to products, so as to reduce dependency on primary commodity exports, he added.
“The most important thing for Africa though is for Africa to focus on what works for itself and that’s the free continental free trade area for Africa,” he said.
POLICY
No to privatisation as
Medupi Unit 2 attains
commercial operation
At the official commercialisation of the fifth of six units at the Medupi coal-fired power plant, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Eskom would be split into three divisions not privatised.
On November 26, at the official
announcement of Medupi Power Station Unit 2 in Lephalale, Limpopo attaining commercial operation status, the president said Eskom would not be sold.
The president likened privatising Eskom to that of selling the family silver, saying: “You don’t do that.”
The president said it was necessary to
split Eskom into three divisions (generation, transmission and distribution) to improve its efficiency and make it competitive. “It is not privitisation,” he said. According to the power utility, this achievement means that the unit moves from project status where it was tested over a period of time to being part of Eskom’s generation output contributing just under 800MW to the South African power grid.
Unit 2 joins its sister units, Units 6, 5,
4 and 3 which have been in commercial operation contributing a total of 4,000MW to the national electricity grid respectively. This leaves one unit to be commercialised, Unit 1, which was synchronised in August 2019 and is currently feeding an average of 400MW to the grid.
In a statement, Eskom expressed pride in its team at Medupi who has delivered the fifth unit with extreme dedication. “They have worked hard for long hours together with execution partners to ensure that testing activities are done thoroughly and successfully,” the utility said.
GRID
Egypt aims to lead pan- African grid
Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker said on November 25 that that Egypt, upon the request of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), would be in charge of developing the continental electrical linkage grid.
He said he hoped to achieve cooperation with development partners to make this important project a success.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) 2019 which kicked off
in Cairo on November 25, Shaker said the project would enable African countries to achieve the optimal use of energy resources available in the continent through the establishment of a unified African energy market working on solving energy problems in African countries.
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Week 47 28•November•2019